1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerant distributor of a refrigerating cycle for a heat pump, in particular to the refrigerant distributor of the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump which is capable of distributing uniformly a refrigerant to a evaporator by using variably the capacity of the evaporator in accordance with discharge quantity of the refrigerant discharged variably from a variable capacity compressor by using discharge pressure of the refrigerant discharged variably from the variable capacity compressor comprised in the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In general, a refrigerating cycle comprises a compressor for compressing a working fluid so as to be high temperature and high pressure, a condenser for discharging an internal heat to the outside by converting the compressed high temperature and high pressure working fluid into liquid phase, an expansion device for lowering pressure of the liquid phase working fluid, and a evaporator for absorbing an external heat by vaporizing the liquid phase working fluid expanded in the expansion device into gas. The condenser and evaporator perform the heat exchange to the outside, accordingly they are also called as heat exchangers.
The refrigerating cycle apparatus is applied to a refrigerator, a showcase for preserving food freshly and an air conditioner for keeping a room temperature pleasantly in accordance with an outside temperature.
The air conditioner is classified into a general air conditioner having a cooling function and a heat pump air conditioner having both cooling and heatingfunctions.
As depicted in FIG.1, in the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump air conditioner, a 4-way valve 20 for switching a flow direction of the refrigerant is connected to a discharge side of a compressor 10 for compressing the refrigerant, an external heat exchanger 30 is connected to the side of the 4-way valve 20, an expansion device 40 is connected to the external heat exchanger 30, and an internal heat exchanger 50 is connected to the expansion device 40.
And, the internal heat exchanger 50 is connected to the 4-way valve 20 and the suction side of the compressor is connected to the 4-way valve 20.
The each part is connected each other by connection pipes 60.
A sirocco fan 70 for moving the air heat-exchanged in the internal heat exchanger 50 is installed on the side of the internal heat exchanger 50, and a axial-flow fan 80 for accelerating the heat exchange of the external heat exchanger 30 is installed on the side of the external heat exchanger 30.
The refrigerating cycle for the heat pump cools/heats a room by the internal heat exchanger 50 performing the function of the evaporator or condenser in accordance with the flow direction of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 10 converting the flow direction by switching of the 4-way valve 20.
First, in the cooling operation, the flow direction of the 4-way valve is set in order to make the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 10 flow directly to the external heat exchanger 30, and at the same time get the internal heat exchanger 50 lead to the compressor 10. On the base of the structure, the refrigerant circulates through the compressor 10xe2x80x944-way valve 20xe2x80x94external heat exchanger 30xe2x80x94expansion device 40xe2x80x94internal heat exchanger 50xe2x80x944-way valve 20 xe2x80x94compressor 10 in accordance with the operation of the compressor 10.
In the circulation, the external heat exchanger 30 performs the function of the condenser, and the internal heat exchanger 50 performs the function of the evaporator. The cool air is generated by the internal heat exchanger 50 performing the function of the evaporator, and the cool air cools the room by ventilating the room by the operation of the sirocco fan 70. Also, the heat exchange of the external heat exchanger 30, namely, heat releasing is accelerated by the operation of the axial-flow fan 80.
In the heating operation, the flow direction of the 4-way valve is set in order to make the coolant discharged from the compressor 10 flow directly to the internal heat exchanger 50, and at the same time get the external heat exchanger 50 lead to the compressor 50. On the base of the structure, the coolant circulates is by passing through the compressor 10xe2x80x944-way valve 20xe2x80x94internal heat exchanger 50xe2x80x94expansion device 40xe2x80x94external heat exchanger 30xe2x80x944-way valve 20 compressor in accordance with the operation of the compressor 10.
In the circulation, the internal heat exchanger 50 performs the function of the condenser, and the external heat exchanger 30 performs the function of the evaporator. The warm air is generated by the internal heat exchanger 50 performing the function of the condenser, and the warm air heats the room by ventilating the room by the operation of the sirocco fan 70. Also, the heat exchange of the external heat exchanger 30, namely, the heat releasing is accelerated by the operation of the axial-flow fan 80.
In the heating operation of the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump,-when the liquid phase refrigerant passed through the internal heat exchanger 50 flows to the external heat exchanger 30 after passing through the expansion device 40, herein when the refrigerant passed through the expansion device 40 directly flows to the external heat exchanger 30, the evaporation is not sufficiently performed in the external heat exchanger 30. Accordingly, as depicted in FIG.2, a distributor 90 for providing after distributing the coolant passed through the expansion device 40 to the external heat exchanger 30 is installed between the expansion device 40 and external heat exchanger 30 in order to accelerate the evaporation in the external heat exchanger 30.
As depicted in FIG. 3, the conventional structure of the distributor for distributing the refrigerant in the refrigerating cycle of the heat pump comprises a body unit 91 having a hollow cone shape and a plurality of branching pipes 92 connected to a flat surface of the body unit 91. The top point of the body unit 91 is combined to the connection pipes 60, and the plurality of the branching pipes 92 are connected to the external heat exchanger 30.
The external heat exchanger 30 comprises a plurality of blocks, and the each block is connected to the each branching pipe of the distributor 90.
In the operation of the conventional distributor 90, the refrigerant in the state of different phase passed through the expansion device 40 flows to the body unit 91 of the distributor 90 through the connection pipe 6D, is divided by the plurality of the branching pipes 92, and flows to the each block of the external heat exchanger 30. The refrigerant flown into the each block of the external heat exchanger 30 evaporates while passing through the each block, the evaporated refrigerant is gathered through the one flow channel, is passed through the 4-way valve, and is sucked into the compressor 10.
In the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump, the operating speed of the compressor 10 is variable in accordance with the load on the internal heat exchanger 50, namely, the temperature of the room. When the load pressed on the internal heat exchanger 50 is small and the compressor 10 operates in the low speed, the discharge quantity of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 10 is partly small, and the partly small quantity of the refrigerant circulates in the evaporator circuits. In addition, when the load pressed on the internal heat exchanger 50 is big and the compressor operates in the high speed, the discharge quantity of the refrigerant is relatively large, and the large quantity of the refrigerant circulates in the evaporator circuits.
However, in the conventional refrigerant distributing structure of the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump, in spite of variable flow quantity of the refrigerant circulating the cycle in accordance with the variable operating speed of the compressor 10, namely, the capacity of the external heat exchanger 30 where is the evaporation is performed in the heating operation is used regularly, accordingly the Capacity of the external heat exchanger 30 is not used properly.
In other words, when the partly small quantity of the refrigerant circulates the evaporator circuits due to the low speed operation of the compressor 10, the partly small quantity of the refrigerant flows to the external heat exchanger 30 through the distributor 90 and evaporates, the evaporation of the refrigerant is performed rapidly, the temperature of the overall external heat exchanger 30 can not be kept as the proper evaporation temperature or the uniform evaporation temperature, accordingly the efficiency of the cycle lowers due to the efficiency decline of the external heat exchanger 30. In other words, when the circumference temperature of the external heat exchanger 30 is regular, the evaporation temperature of the refrigerant becomes higher in the external heat exchanger 30, the evaporation efficiency of the external heat exchanger 30 lowers
The object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerant distributor of a refrigerating cycle for a heat pump which is capable of distributing uniformly a refrigerant to a evaporator by using variably capacity of the evaporator in accordance with quantity of refrigerant discharge discharged variably from a compressor by using discharge pressure of the refrigerant discharged variably from the compressor comprised in the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump.
The refrigerant distributor of the refrigerating cycle for the heat pump of the present invention comprises a compressor for compressing a refrigerant and discharging the refrigerant variably, a distributor for distributing the refrigerant passed through an expansion device expanding the refrigerant to a plurality of branching pipes and making the refrigerant flow to a evaporator including a plurality of blocks, a refrigerant flow controller installed on a certain branching pipe of the distributor for opening/closing the flow of the refrigerant to the branching pipes, and a by-pass pipe for making a certain amount of the refrigerant discharged variably from the compressor flow to the refrigerant flow controller by connecting the discharge side of the compressor and refrigerant flow controller so as to open/close the certain branching pipe of the distributor by the operation of the refrigerant flow controller in accordance with the discharge pressure of the refrigerant discharged variably from the compressor.